I Was Framed – “Already In Prison?”

Job candidates may be using another person’s identity when they apply for work. Sometimes the identity is “loaned” or “sold” and not stolen. “I Was Framed – Already in Prison? (Episode 3) is inspired by a true story behind the scenes at Cluso, a Texas licensed Private Investigation Company.

Imagine if you were told you owed taxes on a salary you never earned from an employer you never had. Identities are sometimes stolen and used to gain employment to avoid tax garnishments, child support and for many other reasons besides for direct loans and credit cards. For some people it pays to take a chance and be someone else.

The Real Story

Our client required a seven year criminal background to meet a construction project contract. The candidate provided an original matching SSN card and DL. Since the name was relatively common we started the extra diligence to gather more identifiers on possible case matches initially found.

But the additional identifiers appeared to also match. Middle Name, DOB, Height, Weight all appeared to match. Sometimes other identifiers do not help us because eye color, height, weight, etc may be average. But then we matched the address found in trace to an address on a case so we were confident the person had one or more criminal records.

Read More The Real Story

We still had a Snag. The TX DPS report stated the person was still in custody. But our client’s candidate was applying in person in another state. Our first thought was the person was paroled and the TX DPS was in error.

Imagine our shock when we called the Texas Department of Corrections to figure out if the person was paroled or a fugitive and they said he was in the cell the last time they checked.

Was it likely a job candidate had used an identity of a person Already in Prison? It is possible, and on second thought it makes sense a person in prison may sell their identity to someone “on the outside” for a price if they aren’t going to need it for a long time. Maybe it is even a tactic to create confusion on their actual location once they are out of prison.

If you happen to be a person contemplating purchasing another’s identity, you may want to make sure the real person with the identity isn’t already in prison or you will fail our background check.

TIP:

Cross checking identity of candidates is essential. Without a cross-check there is no way of knowing if the identity provided is legal and matched to the person applying for the job. But, if the identity is fully provided and the person owning the identity conspires with the candidate illegally it is much more difficult to catch the deception. Without diligence and an investigation firm you are more likely to be fooled by candidate deception.

BOTTOM LINE:

Employment candidates are sometimes taking on another identity for more reasons than to receive a loan or credit cards. Sometimes the owner of the identity knows the other person is using their identity. And we have even caught a person using the identity of a person already in prison.